diff --git a/visidata/basesheet.py b/visidata/basesheet.py
index e10268978..9eb35ccab 100644
--- a/visidata/basesheet.py
+++ b/visidata/basesheet.py
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ def getSheet(vd, sheetname):
     try:
         sheetidx = int(sheetname)
         return vd.sheets[sheetidx]
-    except ValueError:
+    except (ValueError, IndexError):
         pass
 
     if sheetname == 'options':
diff --git a/visidata/main.py b/visidata/main.py
index 28286dc8f..5b00afbe5 100755
--- a/visidata/main.py
+++ b/visidata/main.py
@@ -155,9 +155,11 @@ def moveToPos(vd, sources, startsheets, startcol, startrow):
             rowidx = vs.getRowIndexFromStr(vd.options.rowkey_prefix + subsheet)
             if rowidx is None:
                 vd.warning(f'{vs.name} has no subsheet "{subsheet}"')
-                vs = None
-                break
+                return
             vs = vs.rows[rowidx]
+            if not isinstance(vs, BaseSheet):
+                vd.warning(f'row {subsheet} for subsheet is not a sheet')
+                return
             vd.options.set('load_lazy', True, obj=vs)
             vd.sync(vs.ensureLoaded())
             vd.clearCaches()